Whether it's caused by an injury or a degenerative condition, back pain can be debilitating. A central Indiana woman shares how she got rid of the pain and got her mobility back.
Touching her toes is no problem now for Deanna Floyd after back surgery to fix her degenerative and herniated disc. It's a big change from when her back interfered with her work as a labor and delivery nurse.
"I got to where I could not take a labor patient because it's very physical moving around bending twisting with the patient," she said.
Methodist Sports Medicine spine surgeon Dr. Stephen Ritter says injuries, genetics and aging put us at risk.
"It's like getting grey hair, so everybody gets it to some degree. Some people get a lot of it. Some get a little but everybody gets it at some point in their life. The natural history of a disc is to degenerate over time," he said.
Technological advancements are improving the surgical fix for patients like Deanna.
"She developed a degenerative disc between the l3 and l4 bone," said Dr. Ritter. "There is a scoliosis in her spine that has developed as a result of her degenerative disc."
To fix that angulation and pinched nerve, Dr. Ritter approached her spine from the side, thus preserving muscles in her back. He says the benefit of this type of surgery is that there is minimal risk of injury from the procedure. A NeuroVision Nerve Monitoring guide helps the surgeon to the spine and away from the nerve. The fusion and reconstruction are made through a small tube.
Deanna has a small scar, but she can pick her grandson Brandon, and she's working out. Her back pain is history.
"It's been life changing because I can do things now that I thought I would not be able to do with my back," she said.
The candidate for this surgery would be someone who has not had relief with physical therapy, pain medications and injections, with a disc issue and also curvature of the spine.
Get more info
